Delhi: Mother kills 5-year-old daughter to marry Instagram lover – here’s what happened

A love story turned tragic when a woman allegedly strangled her five-year-old daughter to death in order to marry a man she befriended on Instagram, Delhi police said on Saturday. 

The police said that the accused woman lived with a relative in Himachal Pradesh before moving to Delhi.

Doctors at the Deep Chand Bandhu Hospital on Friday informed the police that a dead child was brought to their hospital, and investigation revealed the cause of death was strangulation, as indicated by marks on the child's neck.

Here's what happened

The tragic incident was reported from northwest Delhi's Ashok Vihar. According to the Delhi Police' statement, a case was registered, and the child's relatives, including her mother, were interrogated. 

“After sustained interrogation, the mother broke down and revealed that she had strangulated her daughter,” the statement reads.

As the interrogation proceeded, the woman revealed that her first husband had abandoned her. After that, she got acquainted with a man identified as Rahul, whom she had met on the social media platform Instagram. Wanting to marry Rahul, she relocated to the capital city.

However, a twist in the love story came when Rahul's family refused to accept the child, and the dream of a wedding union had to be called off. Rahul and his family did not accept the child, and he refused to marry her. 

In frustration, the woman strangulated the child. Delhi police levelled charges against the accused under sections 103 (murder) and 65(2) (rape in certain cases) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Section 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act at Ashok Vihar police station.

In an unrelated incident, a 26-year-old mother named Kajal murdered her three-year-old daughter to marry her lover. Caught amid a troubled marriage, she decided to leave her husband but considered her daughter an obstacle and killed her.

(With inputs from PTI)